


Can't Help Falling In Love

by Ksiezniczka



Category: Gravity Falls, ParaNorman (2012)
Genre: M/M, Parapines, SSParapines, Unrequited Love, demisexual Norman Babcock, ssparapines 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-12 06:23:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5655847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ksiezniczka/pseuds/Ksiezniczka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the ssparapines 2015 holiday exchange on tumblr.</p><p>In which a young Norman Babcock slowly figures out his feelings for Dipper Pines may not be entirely platonic after all.</p><p>Pre-TUiM</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can't Help Falling In Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ampersandra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ampersandra/gifts).



Grandma Babcock may not have understood her favourite grandchild’s preferences in movies - when Courtney had been that age, she’d liked far more age appropriate things, like “Cinderella” - but unlike Perry, she wasn’t about to tell Norman he couldn’t watch them. After all, it wasn’t like her grandson was actually going out and hurting anyone. 

 

So what if a seven-year-old wanted to watch zombie movies, anyway? They made Norman happy.

 

“So what’s happening now?” she asked, not even looking up from her latest knitting project.

 

“Zak just saved Barbara from the zombies, Grandma,” the seven-year-old chirped. “But he doesn’t know yet that they bit her arm and she’s gonna turn.”

 

“Turn where?”

 

Norman giggled, his high little giggle that always warmed her heart. How could Perry disapprove of anything that made her sweet little grandson giggle like that?

 

“Not where,” he replied. “She’s gonna turn into a zombie.”

 

“Ah,” the old woman nodded sagely, even though she really had no idea what Norman was talking about.

 

“Oh, yuck, I hate this part!”

 

That exclamation gave Grandma Babcock pause. Norman had probably seen every gory movie that the local Blockbuster had. What could be enough to make a child like that say yuck? She looked up from her knitting in curiosity to see Zak kissing the not-yet-zombified Barbara on the television screen.

 

Oh.

 

She laughed out loud, causing the seven-year-old to whip his head around in surprise.

 

“Grandma! Why are you laughing at me? It  _ is _ yucky!”

 

“Something tells me you’re going to change your mind once you’re older,” she countered.

 

“No I won’t,” he shook his head, frowning. “Kissing is gross.”

 

“Not once you meet the right person, it isn’t.”

 

“Kissing is gross and I’m  _ never _ going to want to kiss anyone like that,” Norman pouted stubbornly.

 

She just laughed again, and gestured to the television.

 

“So. What’s happening now?”

 

***

 

Years later, a newly thirteen-year-old Norman Babcock logged onto Skype a few days after his birthday. He’d gotten a new computer game from Neil, and so of course he wanted Neil to watch him play it, if the redhead was even online. (Neil tended to forget that he even  _ had _ Skype sometimes.) After all, the two hadn’t gotten to play video games together much over the summer, since Norman’s family had decided to take a family vacation to a sleepy little tourist town in Oregon…

 

He was surprised, then, to see that he had a new friend request on Skype, a username he didn’t recognise.

 

“Well? Aren’t you going to accept it?” the disembodied voice of his grandmother’s ghost spoke behind him. The medium didn’t even turn around to face her.

 

“It’s probably just a spambot, Grandma.”

 

“How do you know? Where’s your sense of adventure?”

 

He snorted. He’d had quite enough adventures over summer for one year. But - more to keep her from teasing him than anything else - he pressed accept.

 

Not even five seconds later, the melody of someone calling him sounded from his laptop’s speakers. His grandma laughed.

 

“Some spambot. Answer it! I wanna see your so-called ‘spambot’!”

 

“Th-they probably think I’m someone else, Grandma…”

 

Still, curiosity got the better of him. He clicked to answer the call, turning his webcam on.

 

There, on the screen, was a familiar face, unexpected but  _ very _ welcome.

 

“D-Dipper?!” Norman gasped. He could hear his grandmother chuckling behind him. He ignored that, knowing Dipper couldn’t see her.

 

“Hey, Norm!” his friend from the summer smiled at him. “Toldja I’d add you on Skype! Sorry it took me so long, though. School is  _ crazy _ .”

 

“Not any crazier than being chased by gnomes, is it?” Norman returned that smile with an almost shy one of his own.

 

“That’s debatable,” Dipper replied. “Oh! How was your birthday by the way?”

 

“You remembered my birthday?”

 

“September thirteenth, right? I wrote it down on my calendar. Mabel and I wanted to send you a gift but we don’t have your address…”

 

Suddenly, a strangely warm feeling spread in Norman’s chest, blooming like a flower. It was weird. But… a good weird.

 

Dipper was the only person who had ever made him feel that.

 

***

 

“Please?” Norman asked his mother. He didn’t like begging like this, and he knew he’d feel guilty about it later, but he really wanted something. It was rare that he ever wanted anything bad enough to actually ask his parents for it. 

 

But he’d promised Dipper he would. And Dipper had  _ smiled _ at him, that smile that always gave him that weird, warm feeling that Norman didn’t know how to identify. He’d do anything for that smile.

 

It was January now. Courtney was back home, visiting between the first two semesters of her freshman year in college. She was amused as she watched her little brother beg their mother to let him go back to Gravity Falls for the summer.

 

“What, you don’t wanna be around me during my first summer home from college?” she teased.

 

Norman shot his sister a cold look before turning back to his mother.

 

“Now, Norman, I just don’t know if your father and I can afford a plane ticket,” Sandra said, not used to her son being so insistent about something.

 

And had it been anything else, Norman would have given up. He would have told his mother, “that’s alright, I understand”. Except that this wasn’t anything else. This was a summer with Dipper and Mabel, the twins who had accepted him, ghost abilities and all. (After a few hiccups that is, but after that all blew over, the previous summer had been the best he’d ever had.)

 

“I…” Norman began, his mind racing as he tried to figure out how to convince her otherwise without sounding too whiny or entitled. It wasn’t as if he was really old enough to find a job or anything, other than maybe babysitting, which he didn’t think he’d be very good at. “I can put aside some of my allowance to help pay for it. A-and you don’t have to get me any Christmas presents.” 

 

Sandra still looked hesitant.

 

“Please, mom?” he asked in a tiny voice, making his eyes big and vulnerable-looking the way Courtney had taught him. Desperate times called for desperate measures, after all.

 

“Well…” his mother looked away for a second. Then, she sighed. “I’ll talk to your father. We’ll  _ think _ about it. Okay?”

 

“Okay,” he nodded, perhaps more quickly than he should have. That meant maybe. And maybe was better than no. Norman could allow himself to hope with a maybe.

 

Over from her corner of the kitchen, Courtney snorted. The medium had almost forgotten his sister was there. He turned to glare at her as their mother left the kitchen in search of Perry.

 

“Oh. My god,” the older Babcock sibling was smirking like a cat. “I can’t  _ believe _ you.”

 

“Wh-what? Why not?”

 

“You are so eager to see your little boyfriend!”

 

Norman’s face went bright red. He could  _ feel _ how hot his cheeks were!

 

“He put you up to this didn’t he?” Courtney continued. “Can you say ‘whipped’?”

 

“Sh-shut up,” he stammered indignantly at his sister, causing her to cackle. “It isn’t like that at all! Dipper _ isn’t _ my boyfriend! He’s- you’re being  _ gross _ !”

 

“And you’re, like,  _ so _ red!” The blonde laughed even harder, her ponytail bouncing along with her shoulders as she did so. “Just admit it, Norman - you’ve totally got the hots for him.”

 

“I- augh! I do  _ not _ !” He could feel himself pouting a little - Courtney always did know how to bring out the worst in him. 

 

“Then why,” her smirk got wider, “are you blushing so hard?”

 

Why  _ was _ he blushing so hard? 

 

He didn’t even know. All he knew was that he didn’t want to continue this conversation any further. Not dignifying her teasing with a response, he turned on his heels and skulked back upstairs to his room, ignoring the sound of more raucous laughter from Courtney as he did so.

 

As soon as he got to his room, Norman closed his door and sank to the floor in front of it, taking a few deep breaths in an effort to calm himself down and get rid of the intense blush on his face.

 

He was Norman Babcock. He talked to the dead and solved mysteries. He liked zombies and video games and ice cream sundaes. He did  _ not _ get crushes. Kissing scenes in movies still grossed him out, even when everyone else at school was obsessed with who was dating who.

 

Courtney was wrong. Obviously. She had to be wrong.

 

And yet he was still blushing.

 

“What was  _ that _ all about?”

 

As usual, his grandmother’s voice snapped him out of this spiral of chaotic, confusing thoughts. Norman was grateful, and offered the ghost a small smile.

 

“You heard that?”

 

“Heard what? Your sister teasing you about your little crush on that boy with the brown hair?”

 

“I- I don’t have a crush on him! I  _ don’t _ .”

 

His grandmother looked amused.

 

“Norman… do you remember when you were younger, and you told me you’d never want to kiss anyone?”

 

“I still don’t ever want that,” Norman frowned, blushing even harder.

 

But despite all of that, he wasn’t so sure anymore.

 

***

 

Where was he?

 

Well. He could see where he was. He could see the sky above him, in shades of pink and orange and gold as the sun either rose or set, he wasn’t sure which. He could see the ground below him, the grass poking up in cracks of cement. He could see the houses around him, though he didn’t recognise any of them, and the street was completely empty, so it wasn’t as if he could ask someone where this was.

 

But this definitely wasn’t Blithe Hollow. And it wasn’t Gravity Falls, either.

 

“Dude. What are you looking at?”

 

The secondary voice - so familiar, so comforting - surprised Norman, and he turned around to face none other than Dipper Pines, who was smiling at him affectionately, holding out his hand.

 

“N-nothing,” Norman could feel himself blushing as his eyes locked on that hand. Dipper’s fingertips were callused and short, his palms wide, there was a paper cut on his thumb… why was he holding that hand out? Norman shook his head. “I was… just admiring the scenery.”

 

“ _ What _ scenery?” Dipper laughed, taking one of Norman’s hands in his own - the medium noticed how thin and pale his hand looked next to Dipper’s skin - and pulling him close, so that their chests touched. “The most beautiful thing on this street is you.”

 

“I-I’m sorry,  _ what _ ?” Norman felt like his head was spinning all of a sudden. What the hell was his friend even talking about?

 

“Do you wanna know why I asked you out here?” 

 

The older boy wasn’t making any sense. Out  _ where _ ? To this random suburban street? Norman couldn’t even remember Dipper asking him. What was going on?

 

“I wanted,” Dipper continued, “to kiss you.”

 

What?! Norman felt his eyes widening. Dipper was so close to him, he could see the sunset (or sunrise. Whichever it was.) reflected in those brown eyes, making small dancing flecks of gold.

 

“Can I kiss you, Norman?”

 

The medium was surprised to find himself nodding.

 

It wasn’t gross at all. It was gentle and sweet. Dipper’s lips were soft, and the way his arms wrapped themselves around Norman made the younger boy feel safe. The kiss was warm, like a cookie right out of the oven.

 

He never wanted it to end.

 

His eyes fluttered open. Suddenly, everything was dark, and Dipper’s arms were no longer around him.

 

“Wha…?” Norman murmured, as his eyes adjusted.

 

He was in his bedroom. It had been a dream. A wonderful dream that left his heart pounding, but still just a dream.

 

Why had he dreamed  _ that _ ? He didn’t get crushes! He’d never wanted to kiss anyone ever, least of all Dipper Pines!

 

It was probably just nerves, right? Norman was flying out to Gravity Falls for the summer in less than a month, and he’d never flown on an airplane by himself before. That had to be it. His brain had to just be processing those nerves.

 

Because he couldn’t be getting a crush. He didn’t get crushes, he  _ didn’t . _

 

He didn’t get back to sleep that night.

 

***

 

May had crawled by  _ so _ slowly, but finally it was June. Finally, Norman could be reunited with the Pines twins, just as he’d hoped for all year. When he got to the door of the Mystery Shack, he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. He just couldn’t believe he was finally  _ here _ .

 

His big ears picked up the sound of footsteps running down the stairs with all the subtlety of a herd of elephants. He guessed that the twins had probably seen him from the attic window walking up to the shack and were racing down to greet him. 

 

He hoped he looked alright.

 

There was no time to dwell on that, though. The door flew open, and Mabel grinned widely at him, grabbing him into a hug before he could protest and squealing right into his ear:

 

“Hi, Normy!”

 

He laughed at that to the best of his ability, and replied, “H-hey, Mabel… y-you’re kinda squishing me…”

 

She released him with a giggle, and Norman’s eyes looked around. This place hadn’t changed.

 

And then he saw Dipper.

 

Dipper’s hair was messy beneath that hat, and the t-shirt he was wearing had a stain down the front of it. His socks didn’t match and his shoes were untied, the ends of the laces frayed. But the way Dipper’s face lit up when he caught Norman’s eye made the medium’s chest fill with warmth. It made his heart start racing, his head start swimming. It was like nothing Norman had ever felt before - Dipper was the only person who could make him feel like this.

 

“Well?” the older boy looked at him expectantly. “Quit gawking at me and come upstairs! Mabel and I have so much to tell you - and wait’ll you hear what I have planned for this summer!”

 

One of Dipper’s hands clasped Norman’s shoulders as he babbled at him about all his plans, and suddenly Norman realised something.

 

This was… this was the real deal, wasn’t it? This was what a crush felt like. He wanted Dipper to pull him close, to  _ kiss _ him, to do all that stuff he had always sworn he’d never want.

 

Well,  _ crap _ .


End file.
